Foto at top (and bottom of page): Gitzo tripod Wimberley head, Nikon V3 + FT1 + Nikkor 300mm f/4D TC-14E equivalent 1135mm, a high optical quality lens with home made sight, stirdy when carried in backpack, home made loupe viewer, hat, dark gloves, remote control. As old as this lens may be , it is still an optical perfect setup with equivalent up to 1620mm with TC-20E III and great image quality. This photo illustrates that we always use hat and dark gloves, and sometimes remote control to avoid vibrations of unstabilised equipment, in this particular case not yet camouflaged since we were testing this home made sight, which by the way worked perfectly as clumsy as it may look.
Always use at least some grade of (improvised) camouflage. Most shy birds including endangered species will notice any unnatural move or sound in their environment. Always try to be “part”of the actual environment: behind, in front or next to a bush, tree, wall or anything that could mask your silhouette. Try to be silent whatever people around you are saying or doing.
We use three “grades” of camouflage:
- “Standard camouflage”: body, face and hands covered as much as possible. Cover hands with dark gloves and use hat to get shadow over face.
- “Substantial camouflage”: Standard camouflage plus equipment covered using towels as hown in the illustrations below.
- “Total camouflage”: hide, car, house, tent, camouflage towel, whatever covers you and your equipment (almost) completely.
Some examples of (improvised) camouflage:
